River flood alerts in south-west and east France then 30C highs on way

Fierce storms battered France over the Easter weekend, causing several rivers to burst their banks and flood warnings to be raised across the country.

An end to rainfall in the affected areas – mostly the south-west, west, and east – means the alerts are likely to drop, before a burst of warm weather sees temperatures rise by 10C or more at the end of the week.

Currently two departments – Saône-et–Loire and Yonne – are on the highest tier-four red alert for river flooding.

The Arroux and Armançon rivers have been placed at this level on the official Vigicrues river flooding website.

Record high water levels have been recorded along the Arroux in the last 24 hours after continued heavy rain in the Saône-et-Loire department.

A number of rivers saw their levels rise by several metres in less than 24 hours overnight Sunday to Monday.

Eight further departments are on a tier-three orange warning, also for river flooding:

• Aube

• Nievre

• Côte D’or

• Dordogne

• Charente

• Charente-Maritime

• Gironde

• Indre-et-Loire

Read more: What action is advised with different Météo France weather warnings

Red level warnings are scheduled to end this afternoon as river levels begin decreasing.

In the north-west, it is Brittany’s turn to face a barrage of rainfall as another Atlantic storm moves in. By the evening, it will affect Normandy and the Pays de la Loire regions.

Up to 80mm of rain is predicted to fall in central areas of Brittany over the next 24 hours.

Read more: What to do (and not do) during heavy rain and flood alerts in France

Thermometers to reach 30C in south this weekend

The end of the week will see a stark turnaround, with highs of 30C in the Pyrénées and 23C as far north as Paris in place over the weekend.

With the exception of Brittany, which will see rain throughout the week, much of the country will remain dry from Wednesday onwards, including the south-west.

However, temperatures may still reach 22C in Rennes over the weekend despite the rainfall.

Météo France published their monthly weather tendencies for the next quarter, which forecasts April, May and June all have a significant chance of being warmer than average across the country.

The chances of a canicule – a specific type of heatwave which lasts at least three days and sees temperatures remain significantly above average overnight – during this summer’s Olympic Games is at least five times higher than in 1924, said Christophe Cassou, climatologist at the CNRS, France’s national research centre, to Huffington Post.

This was the last year when Paris hosted the competition.

You can keep up to date with all weather warnings via the official Météo France website, and with river flooding information through the official Vigicrues website.

Note these warnings are likely to change multiple times during periods of unstable weather.

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